Chips Jon is offered a Promotion
by susan cousineau
Summary: This is the story of John and Ponch and a test that John takes for sergeant.
1. Chapter 1

The day had been a bad one for John. He had seen an accident where a young woman and child had died. The last few days had not been very good either. There were lots of groups hanging around everywhere he and Ponch stopped. He was getting sick and tired of being called a pig.

The notice had been up on the bulletin board and this was the last day that he could apply for this test. It was a test for a promotion. The promotion was to the rank of Sargent. The test was tough and he knew that he was going to have to study hard. But he filled out the paperwork and his Captain signed off on his recommendation.

John wasn't sure how his partner was going to react to his taking the test. As he had approached his partner on the subject he was surprised to see that he supported him and his attempt at the promotion.

The next few weeks were full of study and work and when John had finished the test he felt confident that he had done well on it. His friend and partner Ponch was eager to hear how his friend had done but the results were not going to be received for another two weeks. In the meantime nothing was going to change and Ponch and John hit the road together again.

The weather had finally cleared and the ride was a good one. The day was clear and warm and people seemed to be in a better mood. As the two police officers rode down the road there was a call on the radio reporting a car that was swerving in and out of traffic and nearly caused an accident. John and Ponch were just a short distance away so they turned on their lights and headed quickly toward where the car had been seen.

They had not gone far when they spotted an older chevy driving in and out of traffic just a short way away. They turned on their sirens and signaled for the man to pull over. As they pulled to the side of the car they yelled at him to pull over. But the man said he couldn't the car would not stop, the gas pedal stuck.

John yelled at the man to throw the car into neutral. The panicked man looked as it 'dah why didn't I think of that?' and they then watched the man pull over and slow down, they pulled over to talk to him.

"I don't know what happened officer. I was driving down the road not going very fast when the car started to go faster and faster. I tried to stop but the car started to skid. If you hadn't come along and told me what to do, I just don't know what would have happened. He had shut off the car at this point and the three men took a look under the hood. There pressing against the link that controlled the gas pedal was a piece of plastic. The piece had fallen off of one of the wires and wedged itself on the gas pedal link. The man started the car and the car was back to normal.

John and Ponch tipped their hands and told him "I would have someone check your car out, but I am sure that you are all right." John told him.

"Don't worry I will. You want to know something? You guys are all right. Thank you."

John got on his motorcycle and smiled. That man had said the first kind words to him that day as an officer that he had heard in days. It was the citizen like that man that had kept him feeling good about his job. Ponch looked over at his partner wondering what was going on in his mind.

The morning had been uneventful except for the man with the stuck gas pedal and Ponch and John were on their way back to the station when another call came in on the radio. There was an accident on the freeway just a mile from their location. As John and Ponch looked up they could see the smoke from the accident. Once again they put their lights and siren on and they headed to the site of the accident.

There were three cars involved in the accident . One was on it's side while one had been rolled. They could see a young man trapped inside the car that had rolled and they ran over to check him out. He said that he was fine, and as they turned around the paramedics arrived on the scene.

The next car had a young lady in it and she was already walking around complaining about the damage to her car. She was yelling at the guy in the car that had been rolled "You wrecked my brand new beautiful car.. You're going to pay for it."

John calmed her down and pulled her away form the man in the car. He took her over to the fire truck that was sitting there and told her to take a seat.

Ponch had gone over to the other car and found a man unconscious. He was trapped inside the car and he could smell gas. He called to the fire department who came right over to the car and started to get the man out with the jaws of life. Now that the paramedics were there and the man was being taken out of the overturned car Ponch and John began to direct traffic around the accident. When all was done all three accident victims were going to be all right. John and Ponch headed back to the station.

As John arrived at the station he was greeted by the officer on duty. He told him "Congratulations". John with shaking hands took the envelope and opened the test results. He had scored a 96. He was definitely in contention for a promotion.


	2. Chapter 2

Now was the time that Jon knew that he had to make a real decision. He had taken the test and had done well on it. He thought that he might want to get married someday and the raise would help him out financially. Also, the streets could be dangerous and this was mostly a desk job. He was going to have to think about it for a while.

"Jon the interviews and the decision as to who will get the promotion has to be made within thirty days." the sergeant told him.

But, Jon wasn't sure that he was ready and knew that he would be also transferred to another station. He would miss the men that he had gotten to know and would most of all miss the motorcycle. His motorcycle and Jon had become almost one from the years of riding it. Then there was his partner Ponch. Ponch had been his best friend and partner for a long time. They worked well together and he always looked forward to going to work.

But, today was like any other for a Chips officer. As Jon and Ponch took their seats in the briefing room Jon looked around. He watched as their sergeant went to the front of the room and tell of the daily news. He pictured himself up in the front of the room telling the officers what to keep an eye on and what they should look for. Jon was a quiet man and didn't like talking in front of people. Even if the people in the audience were his friends he didn't feel comfortable standing in the front of the room for anything.

As the meeting was over and Jon and Ponch started to walk out of the room Jon turned and looked at Sargeant Getraer as the man picked up his notes and headed back to his office. This was the time that Jon wasn't sure if he wanted to take the job or not. As he and his partner went outside and got onto their motorcycles Jon felt once more as though he was where he belonged. The bike felt great and as he put on his gloves and helmet he smiled. Then he started the bike and turned to his partner. He was home and he knew it.

The weather was good and as Ponch and Jon entered the freeway Jon could feel the wind against his face and he took a deep breath. The freeway was very busy that day and he had to wait to enter. Usually when someone on the freeway saw a motorcycle cop they pulled over. But, this morning there was no where for the people on the freeway to go. The road was almost to the point of being bumper to bumper.

This was when Jon and Ponch decided to go to the front of the apparent traffic jam and see if they could find out what the hold up was. They had to weave in and out of the traffic and had gone just over a mile when they found the problem. There was a car that had broken down and some people were busy trying to help the man pull the car off to the side of the road. It was indeed a very dangerous situation and it was a good thing that Ponch and Jon came along. They began to direct the traffic around the broken down car and watched as the car was successfully pulled to the side of the road.

Ponch got on the radio and called for a tow truck. Once the traffic started to move once more Jon and Ponch went over to the man who was now broken down . "We have called you a tow truck. May I see your drivers license and registration?" Jon asked.

As the man showed Jon the information Jon saw that his license was expired. "Sir, do you have your new license? This is expired." he told the man.

The man shook his head. "When did it expire?" he asked while you could see that he was angry with himself.

"It looks like it expired on your birthday three months ago. I am going to give you a citation that will be of no cost to you if you renew your license within five days." Jon told him.

"Thank you officer. It just doesn't look like it is my day." and with that the man shook his head.

Jon and Ponch watched as the tow truck arrived and were soon back on the freeway once again.

As a motorcycle police officer one never knew what could happen. But Jon and Ponch had learned to roll with the punches. They were needed out on the freeway because on a motorcycle they could get to people quicker than someone in a police car. The freeways could be jammed and a motorcycle could ride the side of the road and the center line also.

The two friends had been on the road another hour when they got a call saying that there was an accident just up the road from where they now were about a mile ahead.

The two officers put their lights and sirens on and headed up to the accident. As they approached the scene they could see the black acrid smoke as it arose from the accident and knew there as a danger of fire. The two men arrived and saw that two cars had slid off of the highway and were now laying in the ditch. As they p ulled their motorcycles over to the side of the road and called over the radio the situation and their location.

As Jon approached the first vehicle a woman was climbing out of the driver's seat. She seemed to be stunned but told them that she was all right.

They could hear the paramedics arriving and looked up to see them coming towards the accident. They checked a second with the lady and went over to the other car where there was a mother and child. Jon watched as the paramedics went to work on the lady and her child and Ponch went up to direct traffic.

With the expertise of the paramedics and the help of the Chips officers the two women were going to be all right and soon Jon and Ponch were back on the road. As the day passed Jon still had not decided if he wanted to accept the promotion or not.

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	3. Chapter 3

The day on the road had been long and hard and finally Jon got a chance to go home and relax. He had a quaint home with just his books and a radio. Jon had never bought a television. He thought that a television had a tendency to take over one's house. When he wen to friends homes he was surprised at how much space and time they put into just to watch a show on the television. Once in a while he had something that he would like to watch, but that wasn't often enough to get him to pay such a high price. The televisions that his friends had cost hundreds of dollars.

But now that Jon was at home and no longer had all of the distractions that he had at work, he started to think. He got out a piece of paper and a pencil and wrote down the pro's and the cons of taking the promotion.

In the first column among the pros was the pay raise that he would get. He could afford a larger apartment and the television that everyone insisted that he should have. The second thing on the pro list was the safety of the job. Safety was a real issue and when he was out there on the freeway not only was he in danger of getting hurt in a motorcycle accident, he was in danger from people when they had been pulled over.

There was many a time when Jon had been sure that a person that he pulled over had thought about assaulting Jon. Most of the people on the road were reasonable, but there were the dangerous ones. He and Jon had to subdue several different people over time. It wasn't always the men that assaulted him and Jon either. He thought about the lady that had all the balloons in her car.

Ponch and Jon had been on the road about two hours when they saw a lady driving down the street. She had nearly struck another vehicle as she went to go and get into the other lane. As he and Ponch had approached the vehicle they could see about a dozen balloons in the back seat . They were obstructing the lady's view and she had not seen that a car was beside her.

Jon had been laughing to himself when he had pulled the lady over. But the lady was in no mood to listen and started yelling at Jon and Ponch the second that they got off of their motorcycles. Jon had seen the lady get out of the car . But as he told her to get back in one of the balloons flew out of the door and up into the air.

The lady began screaming at them "I will have to go back and get another balloon now. My daughter's birthday party is today and she is twelve . When the balloon flew out the window, I no longer have twelve balloons. You officers are the reason why I now only have eleven balloons. Who is going to pay for the other balloon?" she had yelled.

Both Jon and Ponch did their best to get the lady to get back into the car, but she refused. "If I open the door again I will lose another balloon. I can't afford to keep buying new balloons." she had yelled.

Once again they tried to calm the lady down but this time she kicked Jon in the shins. She had kicked him hard and he warned her loudly "If you do that again mam you are going to be arrested. Well instead of kicking him she punched him right in the face. When Jon had put his hand up to his nose he found that he had a bloody nose. It was then that he had read her rights to her and put handcuffs on her.

What had been a routine traffic stop had turned into a disaster. The lady was arrested and missed her daughters birthday party. Fred the officer that brought the lady to the station said that she had begged all the way to the police station to be let go. She was going to miss her daughters birthday party. Her husband had come down to the police station and bailed his wife out.

Jon thought about that day with fond memories now. But at the time it had been far from hilarious.

But Jon still had his pros and cons list to make up so. On the con list Jon thought of his best friend Ponch. They had been riding together for a long time now and he would miss their times together. Oh he was sure that they would keep in contact. But if he took the promotion things would never be the same again for either of them.

Another con of taking the job was that he was going to have to be transferred to another station. He knew some of the other guys that worked at other stations, but he knew everyone at the station he was at now. He could walk to work if he wanted to and the other job could be clear across town. The traffic could be terrible in the morning and it would mean that he would have to get up at least a half an hour earlier.

Then another con was that he wouldn't be meeting the people on the street. Most of the people on the street were good and he had met and helped many of them over the years. As a sergeant he would be reading about the people instead of experiencing the one to one conversation with another citizen. He would miss that a lot more than he thought that he would. It was one of the big bonuses of working the street.

As Jon went to bed that night the pros and cons went through his head over and over. As he looked at the paper he knew in his heart what he had to do. He was still very young and wasn't quite ready for a desk job. He could take the test the next year.


End file.
